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Abstract |
The standard model of solids, grounded on Fermi-Liquid theory and powerful computational
techniques, provides an accurate description of many materials of great technological
significance.
Correlated electron systems are materials which fall outside the standard model of solid-state
physics. They display remarkable emergent phenomena as for example metal to insulator
transitions and unconventional high temperature superconductivity. The most recent example
provided by the iron-based high-temperature superconductors. From a theoretical
perspective correlated electrons pose a most challenging non-perturbative problem in
physics.
In this Colloquium, I will give an elementary introduction to the field of strongly correlated
electron systems and Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT) a non-perturbative method which
provided a zeroth order picture of the strong correlation phenomena in close analogy with the
Weiss mean-field theory in statistical mechanics.
Applications to materials containing f and d electrons will be presented to show how the
anomalous properties of correlated materials emerge from their atomic constituents. Different
roads for the formation of strongly correlated states, will be traced to Mott Hubbard and
Hunds physics. I will conclude with an outlook of the challenges ahead and the perspectives
for rational material design using strongly-correlated materials.
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